World No 2 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and England's World No 3 Lee Westwood are set for a desert showdown in the semi-finals of the Accenture Match Play Championship after each triumphed in their quarter-final match on Saturday.
McIlroy overcame Korea's Sang-Moon Bae 3&2, while Westwood cruised to an even more comfortable 4&2 victory over Scot Martin Laird, setting up a mouth-watering clash that could determine who will become the new top ranked player in world Titleist 910 D3 Driver.
Americans Hunter Mahan and Mark Wilson might have something to say about that, however. Each secured dominant victories of their own on Saturday to reach the semi-finals - Mahan crushed compatriot Matt Kuchar 6&5 and Wilson had little trouble in dispatching Swede Peter Hanson 4&3.
But after Luke Donald's first-round exit to Ernie Els, all eyes were always going to be on McIlroy and Westwood, who knew from that point on that victory this week would give them the top spot in the rankings.
The Accenture Match Play has a habit of determining the World No 1 lately - only last year Westwood himself lost the ranking to German Martin Kaymer. He regained it again in April with two wins in Asia, but lost it it again at the BMW PGA Championship soon after - this time to Donald, who has held it ever since.
Westwood might not have been expecting much from this week - in 11 previous appearances he has never made it past the second round, but victories against Nicolas Colsaerts, Robert Karlsson, Nick Watney and now Laird has seen him reach the final day.
It was Laird who struck first with a six-foot birdie putt at the first to go 1-up, but the Scot's Titleist 910 D3 Driver soon unraveled as he bogeyed the sixth, seventh, ninth and 10th - all after missing the greens - to find himself three down.
Westwood gave one back with a three-putt at the 11th, but Laird found the bunker on the 14th and needed three shots to get out of it, effectively sealing the match.
Of his semi-final match with McIlroy, he added: "It'll be exciting, won't it? The seeds have worked out or they should work out. We're both No. 1 seeds. That's how it should be in the semifinals."
McIlroy started well with Titleist 910 D3 Driver, but found the water at the third and with eight holes to play the match was still all square.
From then on, however, he found his touch, birdying the par-five 11 and 13th holes as well as the driveable 15th, where he chipped in from two feet.
"For the most part I felt I played pretty well," said the US Open champion.
"I hit a couple of loose drives, but apart from that I thought it was some of my best Titleist 910 D3 Driver of the week.
"You really have to try to control your ball flight and pick your spots on the greens."
Of his match with Westwood, he said: "I always wanted to get to this position in the world. I always wanted to challenge for the biggest titles. And this is outside of the Majors one of the biggest ones. It's great to be in there with a chance."
Mahan played Titleist 910 D3 Driver
well, but his opponent Kuchar was dreadfully out of sorts, quite unlike the player he was in previous rounds. He three-putted twice and made four bogeys - all in his first nine holes - to find himself five down at the turn.
He dropped another stroke at the 10th, and though he did birdie the 11th and 13th, his opponent did as well, bringing an end to the match.
Mahan is feeling very positive about the state of his Titleist 910 D3 Driver Hanson and Wilson were neck and neck for the first 11 holes, with Wilson only 1-up for most of that time, but a bogey for Hanson at the 11th after finding the desert scrub gave Wilson a 2-up advantage.
Hanson then lost another hole, the 13th, and the end was near.
Wilson is one of the shorter hitters on Tour, something considered to a disadvantage at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, but that didn't turn out to be a factor.
The American still has not needed to go beyond the 16th hole in any of his matches so far.